Remember Someone's Name By Thinking Of Your Friends

I’m bad at names. So are you. Everyone’s bad at names. You’ve read a million tips for remembering people’s names, and none of them have worked. But maybe this one will! It’s one of the simplest, least gimmicky tricks I’ve heard, and I’ve used it before without really thinking about it.

Instead of trying to remember a person’s name, I’ll just mentally associate them to a person I know who has the same first name. So, if I meet a guy named Daniel, I’ll just try and remember my old lab partner Daniel.

This seems to stick out more in my mind because I can relate the person I just met to complex memories instead of just a single word that I’ll inevitably forget.﻿

You think of a friend with the same name, and you picture these two people together. It’s so simple that it’s barely a hack—which is true of some of the greatest hacks. And as the redditor says, you have tons of associations with the people you know, as opposed to a rhyming mnemonic or even a celebrity’s name.

One caveat, as analogHedgehog admits: “The only names I have trouble with now are those that I haven’t heard before.” You might have to fall back on a celebrity, or a soundalike. Or you’ll have to get their last name and imagine they’re related to your friend.

Only logged in users may vote for comments!

Get Permalink

Trending Stories Right Now

Yesterdays' announcement of the new Samsung Galaxy Fold might not have been as well executed as a famous Steve Jobs reveal but it was every bit as revolutionary. In the same way the iPhone and iPad completely changed what we expected from mobile devices, the Samsung Fold is poised to change the tech world. But while the hardware looks incredible, it's the software I want to focus on. In that brief glimpse, we saw how far iOS has fallen behind Android.

You've now had 24 hours to digest the Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone and its bevy of game-changing features. If you've decided this phone is for you, pre-ordering from Samsung direct is a pretty smart option. But what if you can't afford to buy one outright?